Hobby horse



Junezs, 1959 G, R, THQEMING l I 2,891,792

HOBBY HORSE Filed April 29, 1957 1212's 22271F7 'eorge 'E Thoeu'zlg United States Patent O l HOBBY HORSE George R. Thoeming, Memphis, Tenu., assignor to Wonder Products Company, Collierville, Tenn., a corporation of Tennessee Application April 29, 1957, Serial No. 655,690

5 Claims. (Cl. 272-52) The present invention relates to a spring suspended animal or hobby horse construction and more particularly to a ring support assembly between the hobby horse and a supporting frame structure.

In recent years springs suspended hobby horses have become extremely popular with children. These hobby horses generally have a toy horse-like body with suspension bars projecting laterally from the body. Four suspension springs at rectangularly arranged points are then connected to the suspension bars and hooked to the upstanding legs of a base stand without the necessity of any mechanical links. When the horse is unburdened the springs are substantially in a horizontal position since thesprings are always under tension. The horse and the rider are at all times stabilized by the springs and when the springs are unburdened they tend to return the horse to a centered position relative to the upright legs. By this arrangement a child rider seated upon the horse is permitted to experience resilient motion forwardly, rearwardly, upwardly, downwardly and to both sides. The motion simulates the actual horseback riding movements and is much more desirable than the old fashion type hobby horse.

One of the problems faced in manufacturing horses of the instant type concerns providing a hobby horse which will be able to function in the original manner for sustained periods of time. In order for this end to be attained the hobby horse structure must be very sturdy and capable of resisting a considerable amount of punishment in the course of its use.

According to features of the present invention the instant hobby horse is adapted to be mounted in a new and improved manner on the legs or uprights of the base thereby providing a more durable hobby horse construction which will last for longer periods of time than horses of this type have previously lasted.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a more durable and lasting hobby horse construction.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved ring supporting assembly wherein squeaks and noises are eliminated formerly resulting from the metal to metal contact between the springs and the base.

A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a metal base for a hobby horse having tubular legs oruprights with the terminal ends thereof protected bysynthetic plugs or caps in assembly therewith which caps tend to minimize the likelihood of injury occasioned when a child falls thereagainst.

A further feature of the present invention relates to the provision of a bearing plug or cap in abutting engagement with a terminal end of the tubular upright with the plug having an extension projecting into the interior of the tubular upright in adjacency to openings in the upright with the free ends of the ring extending through the openings against the extension and with the free ends being free and clear of the metal edges defining the openings. By this construction metal to metal contact is thereby eliminated preventing the tendency of the split' ring from elongating the hole or opening in the base up right and preventing the ring from pulling out of the hole or opening. y

These and numerous other features and advantages of this invention will readily be apparent to those skilled in` the art and others from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims, and from the accompanying drawings, and in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view of a-base structure for suspending a hobby horse shown in dotted lines therefrom;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional View with the cap shown in elevation embodying principles of the present invention; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross sectional View through the openings in Figure 2 with the ring shown in elevation.

In Figure 1 there is illustrated a spring suspended hobby horse assembly 10 having a base stand 11 resiliently supporting a toy horse-like body member 12shown in dotted lines. The relationship of the elements is similar:

to that shown in the Baltz patent Re. 23,849 and in my copending application forV patent entitled Hobby ,Horsey With Stirrups, Serial No. 598,958, led Iuly 19, 1956,

now Patent No. 2,806,698, issued September 17, 1957.

The base stand in this embodiment ofthe invention has two symmetrical units 13,`only one of which is seen in Figure l. The units may also be of the type shown in my copending application for patent (supra). In the illustrated embodiment the unit 13 has a lloor engaging portion 14 and rectangularly arranged upstanding legs or uprights 15-15. If each of the units 13 is comprised of a multi-part assembly, as shown in my co-V pending application, the floor engaging portions may be secured together by any convenient means such as bolts and the like. v 'l The base stand 11 is preferably made from a durable metallic material such as steel and the upstanding legs or uprights 15 are preferably of a metallic tubular construction.

Near the upper end of each of the legs 15 the legsr are provided with hook rings 17--17 respectively for convenient connection with suspension springs 18---18.'

The springs are provided with hook-like ends that hook onto the hook rings 17 at one end of each of the springs.

The other ends of each of the springs are-attached to` the ends of a pair of suspension bars 213-20. These `1 According to principles of the present invention, the,

tubular legs 15 are provided with opposed openings 2.1--21 (Figure 3) adjacent annular terminal edges 22.

Telescoped within the terminal end of the upright leg 15 is a synthetic bearing -plug 23. Each of the bearing plugs 23 has an enlarged head portion 24'and a reduced tubular body portion 25 both of lWhicha're ,cylindrical in configuration. The headv portion 23` `is adapted'i in assembly to abut against the terminal upper edge 22 of the upright or leg 15, and the tubular body portion 25 is adapted to snugly engage against the inner surface of the tubular leg or upright 15 thereby rigidifying the leg. Each of the tubular body portions 25 has an arcuate or fragmentary tubular extension 26 nest-ingly and snugly engaged against a portion of the tubular Wall of the leg 15 adjacent, or on the side toward, the spring 18.

Each of the rings 17 has free hook-like terminal ends 2.7-27. When the rings 17 are in assembly with the Patented June 23, 1959 legs; the hook-like free terminal ends 2'7-27 are adapted to extend through the openings 21 free and clear of the edges of the metal of the tubular uprights dening the openings 21 and into abutting engagement against the vertical edges of fragmentary tubular extension 26 at 28-28 to provide swivelling movement thereagainst. Since the rings 16 and the legs 15 are preferably made from metallic materials, by interposing a synthetic plastic bearing between them, the rubbing of metal against metal is prevented.

Where the tubular leg 15 is made of l6 to lS gauge metal, or other rather thin metal, it has been found the ring 17 has a tendency to wear or tear the metal and to elongate the openings 21 to such an extent that a hazardous condition results, such that the ring may even pull out. This is of course, rather dangerous since a child riding the horse might then fall or be thrown from -the horse. Also, the useful life span of the hobby horse is considerably reduced when this happens.

By utilizing a synthetic plastic bearing plug the metalagainst-metal contact between the rings and the legs is eliminated, the swivelling movements of the rings are lubricated and the life of the base is extended. The plastic plug 23 may be made from any suitable material although it has been found that a polyethylene plug is highly desirable because of the self-lubricating characteristic of polyethylene.

A further advantage which accrues from manufacturing the plug from polyethylene is that when the metal ring rubs against the metal leg without a lubricant there is a resultant squeaking which is prevented by interposing portions of the polyethylene plug between the ring and the tubular leg.

It Will be understood that modifications and variations may be eiected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a hobby horse structure of the type having a stand including rectangularly arranged tubular metallic uprights and springs connecting the hobby horse with the uprights, the improvement of a ring support assembly connecting the springs with the tubular uprights, said tubular uprights having spaced openings dened by edges, said assembly including a metallic split ring for connecting the springs to the tubular metallic uprights and with said metallic split ring having free ends projecting internally of the tubular metallic uprights through the spaced openings, and a polyethylene bearing between said tubular metallic uprights and said free ends of said metallic split ring with the free ends of the ring bearing against the polyethylene bearing free and and clear of the edges of the openings to rigidify and increase the life span of the metallic uprights.

2. In a hobby horse structure of the type having a stand including rectangularly arranged tubular metallic uprights and springs connecting the hobby horse with the uprights, the improvement of a ring support assembly con necting the springs with the tubular uprights, said tubular uprights having spaced openings defined by edges, said assembly including a metallic split ring for connecting the springs to the tubular metallic uprights and with said metallic split ring having free ends projecting internally of the tubular metallic uprights through the spaced openings, and a synthetic plastic bearing comprising a bearing plug in abutting engagement with a terminal end of said tubular upright with the plug having an extenfl sion projecting into the interior of the tubular upright in adjacency to the openings with the free ends of the ring` extending through the openings bearing against the eX- tension with the free ends being free and clear of the edges defining the openings.

3. In a hobby horse structure of the type having a stand including rectangularly arranged tubular metallic uprights and springs connecting the hobby horse with the uprights, the improvement of a ring support assembly connecting the springs with the tubular uprights including a metallic split ring for connecting the springs to the tubular metallic uprights and with said metallic split ring having free ends projecting internally of the tubular metallic uprights, and a synthetic plastic bearing between said tubular metallic uprights and said free ends of said metallic split ring with the free ends of the ring bearing only against the synthetic plastic bearing to rigidify and increase the life span of the metallic uprights.

4. In a hobby horse structure of the type having a stand including rectangularly arranged tubular metallic uprights and springs connecting the hobby horse with the uprights, the improvement of a ring support assembly connecting the springs with the tubular uprights including a metallic split ring for connecting the springs to the tubular metallic uprights and with said metallic split ring having free ends projecting internally of the tubular metallic uprights, and a synthetic plastic bearing between said tubular metallic uprights and said free ends of said metallic split ring with the free ends of the ring bearing against the synthetic plastic bearing to rigidify and increase the life span of the metallic uprights, said synthetic plastic bearing comprising a bearing plug including a tubular body portion and a head portion with the tubular body portion nestingly telescoped Within the tubular upright and with the head portion in abutting engagement with a terminal end of said tubular upright.

5. In a hobby horse structure of the type having a stand including rectangularly arranged tubular metallic uprights and springs connecting the hobby horse with the uprights, the improvement of a ring support assembly connecting the springs with the tubular uprights including a metallic split ring for connecting the springs to the tubular metallic uprights and with said metallic split ring having free ends projecting internally of the tubular metallic uprights, and a synthetic plastic bearing between said tubular metallic uprights and said free ends of said metallic split ring with the free ends of the ring bearing against the synthetic plastic bearing to rigidify and increase the life span of the metallic uprights, said synthetic plastic bearing comprising a bearing plug including a tubular body portion and a head portion with the tubular body portion nestingly telescoped within the tubular upright and with the head portion in abutting engagement with a terminal end of said tubular upright, said tubular body portion including an arcuate portion movable vertically therewith in abutting engagement with the tubular upright and with the free end engaged against said arcuate portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,474,718 Bender .lune 28, 1949 2,666,677 Miller Jan. 19, 1954 2,758,632 Koller et al. Aug. 14, 1956 

